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Grassroots Women and Decentralised Governance Change Through Partnership Grassroots Women and Decentralised Governance Change through Partnership Edited on behalf of Hauirou Commission by Sangeetha Purushothaman Sarah Silliman Soumita Basu Sanjeev Pillay Copyright: © 2010 Huairou Commission Reproduction of this publication for education or other non- commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: The Huairou Commission. 2010. Grassroots Women and Decentralized Governance: Change Through Partnership, New York, USA. The Huairou Commission. Cover design by: Sudha Menon, Bangalore, India. Website: www.sudhamenon.com The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Huairou Commission. Available from: The Huairou Commission Huairou Commission 249 Manhattan Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11211 USA Telephone: + 1 718 388 8915/6761 Fax: + 1 718 388 0285 Website: www.huairou.org Email: [email protected] Grassroots Women and Decentralised Governance Change through Partnership ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS his is to acknowledge the contributions of all those who have helped shape our thinking on decentralization and Tlocal government from grassroots women's perspectives. This publication would not have been possible without the support of UNDP. Most importantly, we would like to thank the authors of the articles. We acknowledge the work of Suranjana Gupta and Rut Kolinsky for their insightful perspectives on partnerships with local government formed by the Czech Mother Centers. Esther Mwaura-Muiru, Violet Shivutse, and Hellen Kimiri have conceptualised and implemented various grassroots' women strategies on HIV/AIDS in partnership with local governments. Through their work, it can be seen how incorporating these strategies made devolved funding mechanisms more effective. Prema Gopalan, Naseem Shaikh and Elizaveta Bozhkova have provided invaluable contributions in contextualizing decentralization vis-a-vis grassroots development and the participation of women's groups. Insights of Carmen Robles Arana, Carmen Sanchez, Ana Paúcar, Lucy Mejía, Aida Reynaga have shown how networking and partnerships with local government have paved the way to effective governance. We would like to thank Sudha Menon whose creativity behind this publication provided the stunning visual effects and for her incredible patience on including all our feedback at very short notice. We would like to thank Natasha for going over the final proof of this document with her usual meticulous eye. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Jan Peterson for the original concept behind this publication. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction Sangeetha Purushothaman and Sanjeev Pillay 1 2. The Role of Organized Grassroots Groups in Influencing Women to Access Public Services The work of GROOTS, Kenya in the area of health and women's rights. Esther Mwaura-Muiru, Violet Shivutse and Hellen Kimiri 4 3. Decentralization through Women's Grassroots Organizations and Networking The case of Servicios Educativo El Augustino, Peru. Carmen Robles Arana, Carmen Sanchez, Ana Paúcar, Lucy Mejía, Aida Reynaga and Sarah Silliman 10 4. The Role of Grassroots Women in the Delivery of Public Services Swayam Shikshan Prayog's drive to increase demand and access to governance and health in Maharashtra, India. Prema Gopalan and Naseem Shaikh 16 5. A New Wave of Women's Movements in the Czech Republic A glimpse into the working of Mother Centers. Suranjana Gupta and Rut Kolinsky 22 6. Women's Grassroots Initiatives for Good Governance in Russian Cities A look into the working of Information Center for the Independent Women's Forum in Petrozavodsk and Putchino. Elizaveta Bozkhova 29 7. Conclusions on Decentralized Local Governance Sangeetha Purushothaman and Sanjeev Pillay 35 8. References 40 9. Glossary 41 INTRODUCTION “ ocal government is an integral part of the national Introduction structures of governance and the level of government closest to the citizens. Therefore, it is in the best Sangeetha Purushothaman L position both to involve women in the making of decisions and Sanjeev Pillay concerning their living conditions and to make use of their knowledge and capabilities in the promotion of sustainable development.” - United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), (1998) The decentralization of power and decision making processes from national and state to local bodies has become a major trend globally. Decentralization, being a process that puts in place a structural arrangement for facilitating shared exercise of power among central government, local governments, and local communities, is a wide and complex field allowing for community participation in governance and development. (Kauzya, 2005, p.15). Centralized decision-making at national or state levels has been proven time and again to be unsuitable to local conditions. The “one size fits all” policy mechanisms have given way to the understanding that policies need to be tailored to the needs of local communities and should reflect the diversity embedded in these communities and 1 the conditions faced by them. Local government is “Decentralization is commonly regarded as that arm of the government that lies closest to a process through which powers, functions, communities and decentralization of power and responsibilities and resources are resources, thus has the potential of increasing the transferred from central to local community's access to the resources. governments… as a way to promote The grassroots initiatives from five different broader values of pluralistic participatory countries provide insights into the participation of democracy.” local communities in decentralized decision making UNESCO (2006) and local governance. The active involvement of grassroots women in local governance, in turn, importance of partnerships and networking with local government and international grassroots organizations for addressing problems faced by working mothers in a patriarchal post-Communist society. Similarly, in Russia, the Information Center for the Independent Women's Forum (ICIWF) works closely with local women in several cities including Petrozavodsk and Putchino, establishing neighborhood groups to influence city policies to improve infrastructure of neighborhoods. GROOTS Kenya works with networks of neighborhood groups on monitoring public services and ensuring better reach for marginalized groups, particularly HIV infected populations and builds ownership over local development as well as their families. Similarly, Swayam Shikshan Prayog the leadership capacities of women. The examples (SSP) in India monitors public services around below cover grassroots women's initiatives from issues of health, water and sanitation through the the Czech Republic, India, Kenya, Peru and Russia. formation of Health Governance Groups, ensuring Grassroots activities are diverse yet relevant to the poor have access to health insurance and grassroots movements all over the world. health camps. Servicios Educativo El Augustino (SEA) advocates The afore-mentioned organizations are part of the for effective functioning of the decentralization Huairou Commission (HC), a global coalition of process in Peru, enabling women and the networks, non-governmental and grassroots marginalized communities to engage in organizations, institutions and individual participatory planning and local governance, professionals that link grassroots women's through mechanisms such as the Participatory community development organizations to partners Budget, and the Coalition of Local Councils. The for information sharing, access to resources and Mother Centers in the Czech Republic show the political spaces. Established in 1995 at the 4th 2 INTRODUCTION World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Huairou Commission members focus on network building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy activities associated with: ! Sustaining grassroots women's leadership in ! Local development can be made most effective redeveloping families, homes, communities, and and relevant to local needs when there are economies in crisis situations (disaster, post- active partnerships between local government conflict, and HIV/ AIDS); and mobilized communities. ! Local governance and asset-securing approaches ! The magnitude of problems caused by poverty that anchor grassroots women's participation; cannot be solved unilaterally, by any one partner. ! Collaborative partnerships that strengthen and The partnerships, when principled and equal, can upscale grassroots local knowledge and advance empower both communities and local alternative development policies. government to act effectively, through a pooling Through campaigns on governance, community of human, technical and financial resources. resilience, HIV/AIDS, and land and housing, the ! Decentralization of power, decision making and Huairou Commission aims to highlight the resources has strong potential for grassroots participation of grassroots women's groups in local communities to access resources and services planning, implementation, and evaluation as a and hold governments accountable unlike prerequisite for effective poverty reduction and centralized structures. decentralization. Grassroots women's initiatives described below illustrate how community based efforts have influenced and shaped local development, from a grassroots women's perspective. While the responsibility for local development
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